MARGAO
Is there a Beggar’s home in place in the State to house beggars rounded up under the provision of the Prevention of Begging Act, 1972? Or, for that matter are the mandatory advisory committees in place to oversee the implementation of the Begging Act?
These questions came to a fore at the meeting authorities, including senior district Collectorate and police officials went into a huddle with social activists on Thursday on how to curb begging activities in the commercial capital, especially at the traffic signals and along the beach belt and the government’s utter failure to address the menace.
The issue over the Beggar’s Home came when activist Roland Martins underscored the need to round up the increasing number of beggars, only to face a question from Sub-divisional Police Officer, Margao DySP Santosh Desai as the senior police officer sought to know where and how to house the beggars for want of a Beggar’s Home.
In the absence of a beggar’s home, the police officer maintained that beggars rounded up by the cops are produced before the Magistrate, who order the release of the beggars after imposing a fine, in the absence of a beggar’s home.
“More often than not, the beggars either return to the same place for begging or change their place for a few days, only to return to the previous place,” DySP Desai said.
Martins, on the other hand, that begging is no longer restricted to individuals but has emerged as an organized crime with either children introduced to begging or a female with her infant involved in begging. He has suggested to the police to explore the possibility of invoking the provision of the Goa Children’s Act given that the female beggars move around with infants in violation of the law.
Martins pointed out to the district Additional Collector, Dipak Desai that the authorities should identify NGOs working in the field of taking care of beggars to run homes with the cooperation of the department of women and child development to feed the beggars.
“The beggar’s home may just be a transit point for the people rounded up before they are sent to their native states since the government cannot rehabilitate the beggars beyond a certain period,” he said while underscoring the need to launch an awareness campaign in the school, colleges and the markets educating the people not to entertain beggars.
Additional Collector Dipak Desai later told the media that there is a place at the moment to house the beggars. He agreed with Roland Martins that the beggars, including the children, may end up meeting with accidents at the traffic signals if the authorities do not end the menace.
“Absence of a beggar’s home is indeed a big question facing the authorities. The Advisory Committee is also not in place. We will now move the government to take up issues as per the Prevention of Begging Act,” he added.
Martins told the media that since the government is facing fund and space constraints, it has been proposed to involve the NGOs to run the shelters for the beggars as a purely temporary measure before they are sent back to the native states.
